He Who Knows the Self Knows All Things
One day Prajapati, the
Creator, announced: "He who knows the Self knows all things."
Both the gods and the demons
heard this and said, "Oh! Is it so? If one knows the Self, all things are
known? Then it is worth knowing. Let us go."
"Great Master, we have
come to learn the Self from you which – as you proclaimed – is the source of
all knowledge." The Gods sent Indra as their representative to obtain this
wisdom. The demons sent Virochana as their leader. Both of them went to Prajapati
and said, "We have come for Knowledge."
"Stay here and observe
discipline for many years," replied Prajapati.
They stayed with Prajapati and
served him for thirty-two years. After the lapse of so many years of discipline
and hardship under the tutelage of Prajapati, these two persons approached him
and said: "Now, please initiate us into the nature of the Self."
Prajapati replied. "Go
and look at yourself in a pan (vessel) filled with water. You will see
something there. That is the Self."
"Oh, good; very good. It
is a very simple matter," they said.
They looked. What did they
see? They saw their own face – their own body.
Virochana said, "Now I
know what is the Self. This body is the Self."
Virochana returned home and
proclaimed to all the demons: "Now we know what the Self is, by knowing
which all things are known and all things can be obtained. This very body is
the Self. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy."
Thus it is that the philosophy
of enjoyment, hedonism and materialism started with Virochana, because he
concluded that the Ultimate Reality is this body, which was very clear from the
instructions he received from Prajapati. And what does this body need? It needs
eating, drinking, enjoying, sleeping and all the appurtenances of physicality.
Indra also got this knowledge.
He left, thinking that he had this wisdom. On the way, he had a difficulty.
"Is this the Self? This
thing? No, it cannot be. The Self is supposed to be a permanent entity, but
this body is not permanent. So if the body gets old, the Self will also become
old; if the body become sick, the Self will also become sick; if the body dies,
the Self will also die. No, no, there is something wrong in this," he
thought.
Indra went to Prajapati again.
Virochana did not come back; he was happy. But Indra came back.
"How is it that you have
come back?" asked Prajapati.
"Sir, there is some
problem. I see no good in this instruction."
"What is the
matter?"
"If this body falls sick,
the Self will also fall sick. If the body dies, the Self will also die. Is this
the Self?" asked Indra.
"Stay here another
thirty-two years," Prajapati said.
"Okay, I will stay,"
replied Indra.
After thirty-two years, Indra
went to Prajapati a second time and requested, "Please instruct me."
"What you see in dream is
the Self," said Prajapati.
"Oh, I see; okay,
good," said Indra.
Indra left, but on the way he
again had a problem: "Dream? What do I see in dream? I see in dream
whatever I see in waking – the same thing. There is hunger and thirst. There is
old age and decrepitude. There is even death in dream. All the difficulties and
pains of life are capable of being experienced in dream also. The dream self
also dies. No, this is no good."
Indra again came back.
"Why have you come
again?" asked Prajapati.
"There is some problem,
sir," replied Indra. "The dream self is fickle. It seems to be dying,
just like the waking self about which you told me. I see no good in this
instruction. Please give the correct instruction."
"Stay another thirty-two
years," said Prajapati.
Indra stayed another
thirty-two years, and then Prajapati told him, "What you see in the state
of deep sleep, that is the Self."
"Good" Indra said,
and went away.
On the way, again a doubt
arose. "What do I see in deep sleep? Nothing. It is like a negation of all
things – darkness; it is veritable death. Is this the Self? No, this is no
good," thought Indra. Again he went back.
"Oh, how are you here
again?" asked Prajapati.
"Sir, this instruction is
of no use. What do I see in deep sleep? I see complete darkness, negation,
annihilation. So, is the Self an annihilation? No, I don't see good in this
instruction; please give me proper instruction."
"Oh, I see. Stay again
and undergo discipline here," said Prajapati. This time it was for five
years. Prajapati was a little considerate.
When Indra came back after
five years, Prajapati said: "Now listen, Indra, my dear one. This Self is
not what you can see with your eyes, because it is the Seer of things. How can
you see it? This body is the seen; it is an object like any other object in
this world. If the Ultimate Self, which is the Supreme Reality, is not an
object that is perishable, it cannot be the body either. Otherwise, the Self
will die along with the death of the body. What good is this knowledge of the
Self? The Self is not what is seen in dream because in dream there is such
fluctuation, fickleness of thought and veritable transition, transitoriness,
and all the sorrows that are incumbent in the waking life. The waking
perception also is not the Self. The dream, the waking are both not the Self.
The sleeping experience also is not the Self. What you experience in the state
of deep sleep is not the Self; it is a negation of it."
You were conscious of the
existence of your Self, though that consciousness was covered and you were not
aware of it directly, for some reason – without which fact, memory of the sleep
would have not been possible. You were consciousness. What kind of
consciousness? Consciousness of something? Because when you say "I am
conscious", you always mean conscious of this world, this tree, these
people, this mountain, etc. It was not a consciousness of something; it was
consciousness of Being only – just Awareness of the fact of your existing. In
Sanskrit we call this Consciousness chit, and the
consciousness of Being is chit-sat or sat-chit. So you were existing, you were conscious, you
were happy. Existence-Consciousness-Bliss was your real nature. What kind of
existence? What kind of consciousness? What kind of bliss?
Prajapati goes deep into this
question and gives a tremendously illuminating answer. "This Consciousness
was Pure Being as such, which is the Being of all things. Universal
Consciousness was prevailing there; that is the reason why you are so happy. If
it had been finite consciousness, you would have woken up miserably from
sleep."
Hence, the great teaching of
Prajapati to Indra was that the Self is Universal Existence and Universal
Consciousness. The difficulty, the problem before us, is how to conceive this
Universality which is supposed to be inseparable from us – in other words, how
to conceive our own Universality while we are sunk in this body consciousness,
social consciousness, political consciousness and a hundred types of irrelevant
consciousnesses.
I have placed before you this
little introduction in order to present the teaching of the Upanishads, which
is the knowledge of the Self.
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